Rox see Gray’s big day as only the beginning

DENVER — Joyous Rockies teammates carted right-handed pitcher Jon Gray to the shower and turned creative Friday night. Water, sports drinks, toothpaste … “There was Listerine in my eyes — I don’t know who decided to pour that on me,” a happily stunned Gray said.

But all the cleansing substances couldn’t whisk away the simple fact: sporting a fastball that touched 98 mph in the first and second innings and was 96 most of the night, and a slider that overmatched the Mets, Gray was downright filthy for seven innings while pitching the Rockies to a 5-2 victory over the Mets.

Gray, who struck out eight against five hits, earned his first Major League win after 14 often hard-luck starts. So the surprise shower was a flamboyant exercise to reward the rookie for his milestone.

Future wins won’t be celebrated so wildly. In a sense, though, that was the happiest development. The Rockies expect it and Gray, the third overall pick in 2013 out of the University of Oklahoma, counts on more of these dominant games.

“I feel like everything is coming together the way it should,” Gray said.

During nine late-season starts last year, a tight pitch limit often kept him out of eligibility for a decision. He started this year on the disabled list with an abdominal injury. But the production showed in Gray’s previous two starts. He gave …

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